Moped raiders who terrified staff during a daylight smash and grab robbery in east London have been jailed for a total of more than 30 years.

Staff watched from inside Attenborough Jewellers, Bethnal Green Road, watched two men hammer the shop window. The shutters dropped but one of the men escaped with watches and jewellery worth £12,000 in the incident on October 9 last year.

Four men and a 17-year-old, from Southwark and Enfield, were jailed at Woolwich Crown Court for conspiracy to rob, the longest sentence being eight-and-a-half-years.

But police believe they have not rounded up all of the gang and they are continuing their investigations. Scotland Yard praised members of the public who helped, including finding a backpack containing clothing, which had been weighed down with bricks, on the Thames shore in Southwark.

Det Sgt Andy McGuire said: “This is the perfect example of how members of the public reporting what may seem to be insignificant things can actually help police crack a case.

“This was an aggressive robbery which left store staff shaken and onlookers terrified, but thanks to the quick reactions of local officers, information from the public and team work across the Met, these men are now in prison.”